It may immediately call to mind Valkyria Chronicles but Front Mission also, the title in development at Inverse Atelier, both for its military setting and for its tactical gameplay premise.
AXERAS is the name, and it is a new tactical military JRPG that puts you in command of Acorns Company during the Evestrian Civil War, with decisions on and off the battlefield shaping how the campaign unfolds.
The setup follows Yohannes Trofyeld, a young captain forced to choose between government duty and his own people as the conflict escalates.
The story is pitched as choice-driven, with multiple outcomes based on how you play each mission and the calls you make between them. The narrative is delivered through hand-drawn, anime-style cutscenes, which the developer says are a core part of how the company’s tale is told.
On the tactical side, AXERAS leans into combined-arms combat. Infantry teams fight alongside military hardware, while support assets like airstrikes and drone attacks can swing a turn, assuming you’ve positioned correctly.
Mobility and unit abilities interact in ways that can decide a skirmish. The focus isn’t just on wiping the map; mission flow is built around controlling key Strategic Zones and denying the enemy access to strong positions.
Units gain XP, climb the ranks, and unlock new abilities if they survive. If they don’t, they’re gone; permadeath is in.
There’s also a capture mechanic: you can spare and recruit enemy soldiers instead of killing them to reinforce your roster.
Inverse Atelier frames the campaign as dynamic and replayable. Different choices lead to different scenarios, with consequences that can show up immediately or much later.
For now, AXERAS doesn’t have a release date, but a free prologue demo is scheduled to launch on Steam in November 2025. Below are more details about it, along with the announcement trailer.
More details
AXERAS is a turn-based tactical military JRPG that draws inspirations from the classics and aims to modernize the genre with a unique take on the nature of war and combat.
Yohannes Trofyeld, a Captain in the Evestrian Armed Forces, finds himself caught in the midst of the Evestrian Civil War, and is forced to choose between loyalty to his government and allegiance to his own people. With the lives of his personnel in his hands, will the war turn him into a hero or a demon?
- Combined Arms Combat
- Deploy a diverse variety of military hardware and infantry teams, call in airstrikes and drone attacks, and remember: Mobility is key to your success.
- Unit abilities shape the battlefield
- Unique abilities and how optimally they are used mean the difference between life and death, and victory or defeat.
- Capture or Kill
- Enemies on the battlefield can be killed or spared and captured. Killing is an efficient short-term way to remove the threat, but captured units can be recruited to bolster your ranks.
- XP, Rank and Permadeath
- As units survive the war long enough while gaining battlefield experience, they are promoted to higher ranks and obtain new abilities.
- War is about map control
- Eliminating the enemy is only a means to an end. To gain the upper hand, you must fight over every inch of the map to control Strategic Zones or prevent the enemy from denying you key positions.
- Decisions have consequences
- Each decision you make, has consequences that are either immediately apparent or will only manifest as you progress through the story. There is no right or wrong decision, only what you deem as a moral choice or an atrocity.
- Dynamic story and replayable campaign
- The story of Acorns Company is driven by player decision. Each different playthrough results in different decisions, which in turn result in different scenarios being played out, and ultimately influence the ending.
- Immersive Hand-drawn Cutscenes
- The story of Acorns Company comes alive with lovingly hand-drawn animated cutscenes, in contemporary Japanese anime style.
